obama care and whether or not for-profit companies have religious freedom when it comes to providing contraceptives. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington with the latest. tracie, good morning. >> hey, mara. good morning, everyone. several cases with that issue have made their way up to the supreme court, and today, behind closed doors, the justices are going to decide whether they will hear some or all of those cases together. the issue here is the employer mandate, the fact that companies with 50 or more employees have to provide some sort of health insurance plan, and those plans must cover birth control. well, what if there's a religious objection by the owners of the company? do they have to provide that insurance? that is the issue. and the supreme court has to decide whether or not they're going to hear those cases. they also may hear the issue of whether individuals paying premiums who object to birth control have to pay for that insurance. now, if the court decides to take any of these cases, it could be spring before we hear them, june before we actually get a decision.